Spool-gripper carpet loom



W. FELTON SPOOL-GRIPPER CARPET LOOM Oct. 23., 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed May 13, 1950 I nventor Fulton William Attorney Oct. 23, 1951 w.FELTON SPOOL-GRIPPER CARPET LOOM 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 13, 1950Inventor Mil Ziam Fulton .B MMM W QEMlLMJdQ Attorney Oct. 23, 1951 w.FELTON 2,572,327

SPOOL-GRIPPER CARPET LOOM' Filed May 13, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 InventorWilliam Fulton Q By Attorney Patented Oct. 23, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE' 2,573,327 SPOOL-GRII'PER CARPET LOOM William Felton, Bradford,England, assignor to David Crabtree & Son Limited, Bradford, England, aBritish company Application May 13, 1950, Serial No. 161,832

In Great Britain August 17, 1949 1 Claim. (Cl. 139-7) This inventionrelates to spool-gripper carends through the comb whilst the spool frameis held momentarily in its active position by a holding device toprovide the desired pile tufts which are then severed from the ends soas to leave sufiicient yarn projecting from the comb to enable the endsto be gripped on the next presentation of the said ends to the grippers.

In order to ensure that the correct length of pile tuft is severed andthat a clear severance takes place, the ends must be kept in tension.Hitherto this tension was obtained by a continuously acting, springloaded brake block pressing on the periphery of one flange of eachspool. If the frictional resistance of the brake block to rotation ofthe spool is sufficiently strong to produce suflicient yarn tension toobtain the correct tuft length, a clean severance and the correct amountof projecting yarn for next production of tufts therefrom, the yarngradually slips backwards through the comb, because it is elongated andtightened on the spool during the drawing thereof from the spool andthereafter gradually returns to its normal length and slackness on thespool, and therefore at the next presentation of the ends to thegrippers there is in-' sufiicient yarn projecting to enable the grippersto grip it or the length of yarn engaged in "the grippers is reduced andtherefore the tuft is shorter. As difierent ends stretch differently andare gripped with difierent degrees of tightness by the comb, thisbackward slipping takes place irregularly and gives rise to tuftlesspoints and a ragged pile surface.

The object of the said invention is to ensure that the ends shall alwaysbe present in correct length of projection of their extremities from thecomb when the grippers operate to grip them, whilst also ensuring thatthe yarn shall be in tension whilst it is being drawn through the comband is having a tuft length cut off it.

A spool-gripper carpet loom'according to the said invention has a spoolbrake or brakes which exert a braking effect on the spoolsintermittently .and thus leave the spools free to rotate and therebygive off yarn to compensate for the yarn shrinkage in length andslackening'on the spools which occur between successive removals of tuftlengths from the spools.

The said spool brake or brakes may be operated by a mechanism which actssynchronously with the spool-frame holding device to apply the brakesfor each period of operation of the holding device and release the brakeor brakes at the end of each period of operation. v

The said spool brake or brakes may be mounted on a stationary part ofthe loom and act suc- 1 cessively on the spool or spools of each spoolframe when it is in its active position.

The brake operating mechanism may be actuated by a link rod pivotallymounted on an. oscillatable arm forming part of the spool-frame,

'- holding device and connected by a second arm.

The brake or brakes preferably operate on one flange of each spool.

In addition to the intermittently acting brake or brakes, aconstantlyacting brake may be provided on each spool frame for eachspool, the resistance of the constant brakes to rotation of the spoolsbeing less than the resistance of the comb to slipping of the yarntherethrough and therefore not preventing rotation of the spools tocompensate for the yarn shrinkage in length and slackening on the spool,but however being sufi'icient to prevent undesirable slackness of theyarn between the spools and the combs due to the weight of the yarn orvibration by preventing rotation of the spools by the weight of the yarnbetween the spools and the comb or by vibration in the intervals betweenthe control of the spools by the intermittently acting brake or brakes.

I attain the said object by the mechanism illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a fragmentary frontelevation of a spool brake mechanism of a spool-gripper carpet loom;

Figure 2 is a front elevation of a portion of the mechanism illustratedin Figure 1 and is drawn to a larger scale; and

Figure 3 is a side view, regarded in the direction of the arrow 3, ofthe mechanism illustrated in Figure 1, and is drawn to the same scale asFigure 2.

Referring to the drawings, wherein some known parts are indicated indot-and-dash lines, a construction is shown therein as applied by way ofexample to a spool-gripper. carpet loom in which each spool frame I hasa spool 2 and a spool 3 rotatably mounted on it and is held temporarilyarrested in its active position by a holding arm 4 which clamps it to alocating block 5 and is mounted on an operating shaft 6 actuatedmechanically at the correct moments. A brake operating arm 4 is providedon the operating shaft 6 and has an elongated slot I and a pivotal stud8 parallel with the operating shaft 6 is mounted adjustably along theslot I. An upwardly extending link rod 9 is connected to the brakeoperating arm 4' by an end piece I mounted on the pivot stud 8. The.upper end of the link rod 9 is connected to one end of an arm II bymeans of an end piece I2 and a pivot pin I3 engaging the end piece I2and arm II and situated horizontally but at right angles to the pivotstud 8.

The arm II is secured on one end of a short shaft I4 mounted in a.stationary bearing I5 and having secured at its other end an arm I3projecting upwardly and at right angles to the arm II, the shaft I4being parallel with the pivot pin I3. The arm l6 has a link rod I1connected to it pivotally by means of an end piece I8 on the rod and apivot pin I9 which is parallel with the shaft I4.

The link rod II extends horizontally into the space between the sides ofthe spool-frame chains (not shown) and the lower chain wheels 3Iprovided to guide the said chains at the locality where the framesarrive in the active position.

A bell-crank lever 29 is mounted on a pivot stud 22 carried by astationary part of theloom, the pivot stud 22 being parallel with theshaft I4. The lever 20 has an upwardly projecting arm 24 the upper endof which has a fork 25 open at the upper end and slidably engaged by thelink rod H. The lever 2i} also has an arm 28 which is at an angle to thearm 24 and is also bent laterally to clear a shaft 33 on which the chainwheels 31 are mounted.

A bell-crank lever 2! is mounted on a pivot stud 23 carried by astationary partrof the loom, the pivotstud 23, being parallel with theshaft IL The lever 2i has an upwardly projecting arm 25 the upper end ofwhich has a fork 2l open, at the upper end and slidably engaged by thelink rod II. The lever 2I alsohas an arm 29 which is at. an angle. tothe arm 25 and is also bent laterally to clear the shaft 33.

The end of the arm 2.8 registers with a flange 32 of the spool 2 of eachspool-frame I and the end of the arm 29 registers. with a flange 33 ofthe spool 3 of the same spool frame I when the respective spool frame Iis in its active position. The end of the arm 28, has a brake block 34adapted to be pressed against the periphery of the spool flange 32'.The. end of the arm29 has a brake block 35 adapted to be pressed againstthe periphery of the spool flange33.

For the arm 24 of the lever 29,. there is: on'the link rod H a fixed butadjustable collar 36 which acts to hold the brake block 34 clear and .afixed but adjustable collar 33 which acts on the fork 4 tween the collar38 and the fork 26 and presses the fork 26 towards the collar 36.

For the arm of the lever 2|, there is on the link rod I I a fixed butadjustable collar 31 which acts to hold the brake block 35 clear, and afixed but adjustable collar 39 which acts on the fork 21 in reversedirection through a helical compression spring M on the rod I'l betweenthe collar 39 and the fork 21 and presses the fork 21 towards the collar37.

In operation, as the holding arm 4 is moved by its operating shaft 6into the spool-frame clamping position, the link rod 9 is driven upwardsby the brake operating arm 4' and rocks the shaft I4 by means of the armII thereon. The shaft I4 rocks the arm I6 thereon and thereby pushes thelink rod I! in the said reverse direction. The collars 38, 39 on the rodI'I act through the compression springs 40, ill on the bell crank levers20, 2| and rotate them until their brake blocks 34, 35 are pressedagainst the spool rims 32 and 33 respectively with'pressure's pressionspring 43 interposed between it and theare applied notwithstanding thepresence of 26 in reverse direction through-ahelical compression spring40 provided on the rod- I'I. be-

small irregularities in one spool position as compared with another orsmall discrepancies in the diameters of the spool flanges 32 and 33 orthe inoperative brake block positions.

When the holding lever 4 is rocked by theoperating shaft 6 in reversedirection to release the spool frame I after yarn has been drawn and cuttherefrom, the link rod 9 is pulled down by the brake operating lever 4'and the coliars 36, 31 onthe link rod H are thereby caused to pull the.brake blocks 34 and 35 clear of the spool flanges 32 and 33 respectivelyThe brake blocks 34 and 35 therefore hold the spools 2 and 3- stronglyagainst rotation during each period of yarn withdrawal and cutting, butrelease the spools 2. and 3 immediately after that period and leave themfree to rotate until the succeeding period of yarn withdrawal andcuttingoccurs. Therefore instead of the yarn being drawn between thoseperiods backwards through the comb by shrinkage and slackening on thespool, the spools 2 and 3 rotate to let oif more yarn and therefore thepositions of the ends are not disturbed at the comb between the saidperiods and the extremities of the. ends thereof are always available tothe grippers and the length of the tuft pieces is substantiallyconstant.

Light spring brakes (not shown) may-without detriment be provided oneach frame to act on flanges of the spools in order to prevent the pullcreated by the Weight of the yarn or vibration from unwinding the yarnfrom the spools and thereby forming between the spools and the combsyarn loops liable to become entangled with each other. The spring brakesact continuously as heretofore but have insuiflcient braking action toprevent rotation of the spools'by the stronger pull created byyarnshrinkage and slackening ofthe coils of yarn on the spools after thetuft pieces: have been cut off and. the yarn tension created by thepullof. the; grippers: against the braking action of the intermittentlyacting brake blocks has therefore ceased.

I claim:

A spool-gripper carpet loom having a spoolbraking mechanism comprisingan oscillatable arm, a link rod pivotally connected to the saidoscillatable arm, a second arm pivotally connected to the link rod, anoscillatable shaft on which the second arm is fixed, a third arm fixedon the said shaft, 2, second rod pivotally connected to the third arm,an oscillatably mounted bell crank lever operated by the second rod, anda brake surface provided on the said bell crank lever for operation onsuccessive spools of the loom whilst they are in the operative position.

WILLIAM FELTON.

6 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

